Before and After
by Nativebookworm
Summary: Befor and After. A phrase that holds so much meaning, bad or good. There are the lucky few who love the After and the Before equally, and even those who's after is better than their before. But sadly, many of us cling to the Before in a desperate hope, trying to wash away the sadness and terror of the After.


**Alrighty! Welcome to the land of Shay! So, this is my second story and I'm really excited! Now be forewarned, this story is a little dark. But anyway, enter appropriate disclaim here, and y'all have fun!**

Six months after

The esteemed and, some might even say, legendary Numba 5 was at her lowest. Too drunk and too beaten down to walk up a set of stairs and down a hall, she couldn't even finish the last few feet of her journey home (or to what she considered home). So she sat on the steps, in the rain drowning in her own guilt and alcohol.

She didn't know how she manage to drag herself home from the underground bar that would serve minors but now that she was here, she couldn't seem to get across the thresh hold, didn't even have the strength to do something so simple as to reach out a turn the door knob. as if stepping foot into the abandon warehouse/secret hideout would force her to face the truth that she had tried so hard to wash out of her mind with booze and bad company.

But even drunk she couldn't forget. She couldn't rid herself of the gnawing guilt that ate ate her like cancer. Couldn't forget what she'd done. She couldn't forget the look on his face. And to forget was all she wanted.

* * *

Nigel Uno rubbed his eyes tiredly, setting his ever present shades on his desk. He leaned back in the chair and stretched, looking around his office in the Sector D ( there wasn't near the TND teams as there were KND) secret hide out, the teen version of a tree houses, but much more low profile...much, much more. He chuckled at the thought of the giant tree house , but the laugh quickly died.

If he thought running a Kids Next Door team had been hard, running a team for the Teens Next Door was even harder. Nothing was the same. While the KND had been fairly safe and innocent, the TND was anything but. He didn't enjoy it in the way he once had. The risk was much higher than he liked. He has seen how it could break people, crush them and everything they had once been. There were fates truly worse than death.

Death, that was something that had finally became really to him. When he was thirteen, instead of a decommissioning he and his team were offered this, a way to keep their memory's, to keep fighting adults and teens, and keep protecting kids, even though they were required to acted like typical teenagers who despised children to keep their cover.

That was another difference. While KND operatives were well know and celebrity's among other children, TND were top secret. In fact, only active operatives, connected people, and the villains they battled knew that they truly existed. And even then the identity of the members was compleat for three years it had been thankless job, seeing as how if any one wanted to thank them no one knew who did all the dirty work to thank them.

He glanced at his watch. 2:30am. He groaned and stood, stretching. He had been here filling out paper work for almost five hours. He opened the door to his office, which was sound proof (as was all the rooms in the hideout.) He was greeted with a wave of loud guitar riffs and squealing.

Nigel growled. "NUMBA 4!" He yelled, stalking to wards the open door where the awful racket was pouring from. He reached the door, and was greeted with the sight of Wallaby Beetles in the midst of a guitar solo. He yelled again but to no avail.

He looked around the room, finally spotting where the amp was plugged in. He stalked over and yanked the cord out of the wall, silencing the noise.

It took Wally several moments before he realized that he was no longer producing sound. He looked around until he spotted Nigel smirking, holding up the plug.

"What the crud was that for!?" He demanded stalking over and yanking the cord out of his leader's hand. Wally, who had once been the shortest, now towered at 6'4, well over Nigel's own 6 ft.

Nigel crossed his arms over his chest and glared at him. "When you have a sound proof room, I would recommend shutting the door. Because when I walk out into the hall at 2:30 in the morning, I want to be greeted with silence. Other wise I might go into a fit of rage and break the bloody guitar over your head!" He threatened, before turning on his heeling and walking away. Call him harsh but it was late and he wasn't in the best of moods.

Wally grimaced and watched Nigel stride to the door. Very rarely did he make threats that he didn't hold to, but It could be he was just tired. Better not to risk it though. Still trying to save face, he grumbled, "You could have just shut the cruddy door to begin with!"

"But then you would never have known that you were upsetting me with you playing, and Wouldn't have gotten a warning. And besides," he added with a smirk. "That would have been too easy." And with that slammed the door.

He started down the hall to his own room when he noticed that Numba Five's door was wide open and all the lights on. He frowned, it wasn't like her to fall asleep with the lights on, and it was really odd for her to be in her room with the door open. He walked to the door and took a step inside.

"Numba Five?" He called looking around. No answer and she was no where in sight. That was strange, usually she was in by now, he knew she wasn't at home. She never went home, not since her Father died and Cree, who was nineteen at the time, became her legal guardian. She stayed gone and Cree had the house all by herself to do what ever she please so she was happy and didn't ask where Abby spent all her time.

He frowned, Something was off. He knew she wasn't off on one of her treasure expedition, she would have informed him, though she hasn't been on one in months. Same if she had been sent out on a special mission. The British boy had no idea where she could be and it worried him. Unless...surely not. She promised him that it wouldn't happen again. But it was his only other option.

Nigel pulled out his cell phone and strops towards the door, pressing his speed dial. And much to his disappointment he could hear the familiar ring tone on the other side of the door, even over the sound of the steadily pounding rain. He hung up and, with a sigh yanked the door open.

* * *

Abby was startled by the sound of the door being pulled open. She jumped to her feet and tried to look as sober as possible, despite the fact that she could hardly stand.

"Oh h-hey, Numba One, you're up late." She slurred conversationally, hoping but severely doubting he would not notice her current state. She felt of pang of regret when she saw the look of disappointment in her commanders eyes.

"I had some work to do. Numba 5 you promised me that you would quit this. It's not good for your health." He step out into the rain and down to the bottom step where she was.

Nigel gently took her arm and began helping her up the stairs. "Why do you insist in doing this to yourself? I know you feel bad about what happened but it was six months ago. It was an accident! And besides that we were in a Villains lair, anyone there was guilty by association." He shut the door behind them, and carefully lead her towards her room.

She shook her head. "You don't understand." she looked down at her shoes and whispered, more to herself, "you couldn't understand."

He sat her down on her bed and took a step back, facing her. "Numba Five, I know what it's like to have accidental death floating around on your mind. I get that. But what I don't get is why your taking it this hard. Come on, Abby you've been the cause of accidents before! Why's this one so different? I know the girl wasn't involved directly in crime, but she was there obviously fraternizing with the enemy! She obviously knew what he was. Even though she was a teen, she was with him, so it's her own mistake for getting involved with a criminal!"

She looked at him eyes hard. "So your saying she deserved to die for being with a criminal, even though she was innocent?"

Nigel rolled his eyes. "Of course not! I'm just trying to say its not your fault she was there. Destroying yourself over it's not going to do anything." He gestured at her. " I mean look at yourself. Your irritable all the time, you take it out on everyone. You have made Numba Three cry, five times in the last two weeks. Five times! That's not you."

He wrinkled his nose. "And then your stumble in here at all hours of the night, smelling like alcohol and sex, so drunk you can't even form a decent sentence. This isn't you, Abigail."

He turned and walked towards the door."You're becoming a hindrance to this team."

"You don't know anything about me." She spat, glaring at his back, hating him for being right. Not about what happened. He might feel differently about that if he knew. But about the way she was acting. She hated herself everyday but she just couldn't seem to escape it.

He stopped, one hand on the door knob, and turned to her. "You know, I'm beginning to think you right. I thought your were a brave person who respected yourself, who wasn't a quitter. Someone who loved this team, and would do anything to keep it together." Nigel suddenly looked weary. "And without that person that I thought I knew, we just might come apart at the seams. I hope you realize that." And with that he closed the door, leaving her to wallow in the pit of despair she had dug herself into, and she wondered if she could ever get back out.

She laid back on the bed, not bothering to change her wet cloths. Just laid down and let her mind go, giving into unconsciousness.

** So, hope you enjoyed, and if you did press the lovely review button and let me know. If ya didn't, press that button and let me know what you disliked and ill do my best not to do it again. Also, I apologize for any mistakes, I am typing solely on my iPhone. second chapter will be soon! So, Later gators! Thanks for reading!**


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